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ACADEMIC PROGRAMS
Birmingham-Southern College Catalog 2016-2017
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media consumption and creation. This course will highlight the interaction between the
media and audience, focusing not only on how mass media shapes human psychology,
but also how the psychology of the audience shapes media. Prerequisite: Harrison Honors
Program.
HON 285 Why People Believe Weird Things (1)
An interdisciplinary examination of how we come to believe a range of extraordinary
(“weird”) and rather ordinary claims about human behavior. Students will learn how to
use the philosophy and methods of science to address the question of how we know what
is and is not so, tackling a host of odd, paranormal, and popular (but erroneous) claims
along the way. The aim is to show why these principles are so powerful, how anyone can
put them to use, and why they are good “whys” to begin with. We will examine how a
variety of cognitive, social, emotional, and motivational biases and heuristics often are at
work as we form and maintain beliefs about human behavior. Students may not earn
credit for both PY 250 and HON 285. An hour and a half per week laboratory is required.
Prerequisite: Harrison Honors Program.
HON 286 The Vietnam War (1)
An exploration of the Vietnam War from the American and Vietnamese perspectives,
focusing on the era 1945-1975. Topics include Vietnamese culture and history, French
and Japanese occupation, Ho Chi Minh’s revolutionary movement, national liberation,
the American war, and the experiences of soldiers and civilians on both sides. Memoirs,
novels, scholarly literature, and films will help facilitate our understanding of the war.
Prerequisite: Harrison Honors Program.
HON 287 Western Images of Asia (1)
A multimedia exploration of Western attitudes about the “orient.” By reading scholarly
and fictional texts and carefully viewing the visual arts, this course analyzes the
development of Western attitudes toward the “east,” beginning with important medieval
explorers and concluding with our present concern with the Japanese. Prerequisite:
Harrison Honors Program.
HON 288 Remembering World War II: The War in Asia and the Pacific (1)
A seminar on how World War II in Asia and the Pacific is remembered in several
countries, including China, Japan, Korea, and the United States. Using a variety of
literary (novels, poetry, and memoirs), artistic (film and painting), and architectural
(monuments, memorials, and museums) evidence, we explore the legacy and memories
of World War II in these various countries, consider some of the many issues related to
self-representation and historical memory, and examine how different cultures with
widely divergent pasts and traditions come to shape memory and guilt. Prerequisite:
Harrison Honors Program.
HON 289 Remembering World War II: The War in Europe and the Holocaust (1)
A seminar on how World War II in Europe and the Holocaust are remembered in several
countries. Using a variety of literary (novels, poetry, and memoirs), artistic (film and
painting), and architectural (monuments, memorials, and museums) evidence, we explore